Erakka-Sak

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Description

Erakka-Sak is the second boss encounter for Subterranean Depths (Area: Rockrage Caverns). As with all bosses, Erakka-Sak can also be battled in a raid with 4 available levels: Normal, Hard, Legendary and Nightmare.

The stone disappears into pumice, its ensorcelled surface piercing the shell of igneous rock as if it were butter. You barely have time to blink before the ensuing eruption.

Red and orange liquid gushes from the cavern wall, chunks of pumice blasted aside as the pressurized magma bursts free from its chamber within the stone. The screams of melting orocs vie with the victorious cheers of your comrades, filling the air with a strange medley.

Solus soars away from the pooling magma, and touches down alongside your companions.

"A fine stratagem," says Raknur. "But we must hurry."

He indicates one of the archways leading from the cavern. It's not far from the magma that now creeps across the ground - slowly consuming all in its path.

Medea issues orders to your casters, and the air is filled with warring words. Some are intelligible, others alien - perhaps from ancient tongues that exist only on the pages of grimoires and in the mind's of mages. But the results are comprehensible enough. the magma slows, as though infected with a sudden lethargy. Barriers of shimmering energy appear, forming a wall between the crawling substance and the route you must take. You don't know how long it will last, but it should buy you some time.

Your commanders signal the troops, and they move in a quick but orderly fashion - their discipline equal to the challenge. They pour through the entrance Raknur indicated, and you fall into their midst once you're sure that everyone will make it.

The passage beyond is broad, and your force is able to make swift progress. You soon leave the cavern far behind, and you idly wonder whether there's enough magma to claim the entire chamber.

Raknur is at the front of the column, and you follow his lead through a series of smaller caverns, occasionally turning from one gloomy passage into another. The subterranean realm is a veritable labyrinth, and you realize that trying to navigate it without his help would have been a grueling task. But as the thought crosses your mind, you catch sight of Roland. There has to be some way you can put a stop to the oroc's plan...

The troops in front of you slow down. Raknur must be coming to a halt. You slip through the ranks, and make your way to the front of the column to see what's happening.

"This chamber beyond this tunnel marks the edge of their territory," the oroc says, indicating the opening some distance ahead. "We must be ready for an ambush."

You give your instructions, preparing to lead the way into the cavern along with some of your most powerful comrades. If you encounter heavy resistance right away, you want to make sure the people who face it are able to bear its brunt. You tell the rest of your commanders to hold back. If anything happens to you, they'll need to direct the troops.

When you finally rush out of the tunnel, it's something of an anticlimax after your preparations. The chamber is empty. The way to the large opening ahead of you, which Raknur has indicated is the route you must take, is completely clear.

But you advance slowly, noting the tunnels leading off to either side of the chamber. Three of these are small, barely large enough for two people to walk abreast. their insides are pitch black, concealing whatever may lurk there. the other side passage is much larger, a gaping channel into the rock. At its far end is a bright blue glow.

It's from the latter path that the great rumbling comes.

"An earthquake?" Medea asks. Her tone calm, but her song betrays panic. An earthquake could cause a cave-in.

You open your mouth to demand an explanation, then close it again. At the end of the large tunnel, outlined against the azure light, is a hulking form. It thunders towards you, the ground vibrating beneath its tread. Two luminous green eyes glare from its skull, hovering through the shadows of the passage.

The monster emerges into the brightly lit chamber, revealing an immense simian body that looks like it's been carved from slabs of rock. Huge green crystals stud its mighty frame, like those of an oroc's body.

The beast stared at you, its head slowly turning as if it's taking the measure of the enemies before it.

"What is that thing?" you ask.

"Doom," Raknur replies.

The troops around you shift, and you tear you gaze from the monster long enough to see the orocs emerging from the smaller passages. Marcus is already directing some of your force to face them. but they're of little consequence, a minor threat. Your fate, be it survival or destruction, is abound with that of the rock beast.

The monster advances, the knuckles at the ends of its long arms striking and scraping against the stone cavern floor.

For the second time today, you hurl yourself aside and break into a roll - as the monster's fist slams against the ground where you were standing. the stone floor proves just as unforgiving this time as last, and you feel a painful jarring in your bones. But as you rise into a crouch, and see the cracks in the rock that radiate around the beast's knuckles, you decide that things could be a lot worse.

The creature roars, in a bestial voice that sounds like an oroc's magnified into something almost literally earthshaking. glowing green lines thread its body, where even its thick stone hide has cracked beneath your attacks. His movements are slower now, even more lumbering as his body struggles against the damage inflicted upon it. Still it fights, lashing out at those around it with blows both devastating and lethargic. But it's only a matter of time.

Medea heralds the final attack. Her voice and harp sing out, a piercing note that seems to attract the beast's attention as if it were a blow. It's stony visage turns to her, its weight shifting in a clumsy foreshadowing of the attack to come. It's then that Roland leaps onto it, scrambling up its back with steps as surefooted as those of a mountain goat. He reaches its shoulders, clinging on as it shakes to dislodge him.

The creature's huge left fist begins to rise - its body slumping slightly as its right is forced to bear more of its weight. But before it can turn that hand against the adventurer, Solus grabs hold of it. The wyrm's claws pry into one of
the cracks inflicted by your weapons, and the sliver becomes a beam as he strains to pull the rock apart. the fist crashes back down, immobile and useless.

The right fist rises in turn, and now its weight slumps to the opposite side. But again its efforts are thwarted. Raknur drives his orange blade deep into one of its fingers, transfixing it to the cavern floor beneath. The huge hand trembles as the monster tries to pull it free. But it's too weak, its struggles slow and fatigued.

And so the beast is helpless as Roland plants his feet, braces himself, twirls his twin swords into reverse grips, and plunges the blades through its eyes.

There are no death throes. No screams, no thrashes as of a beast protesting against the approach of death. The green in its eyes, in its wounds, simply disappears. The creature becomes lifeless, inert.

"Why doesn't the beast fall?" Asea asks. Her hand passes across her chest, tracing an outline of a rune. You've seen that gesture before. Nords do it to ward off evil.

"In the times of my most distant ancestors, great warriors were placed in such things when they grew near death. Their bodies were sealed withing the stone, and their spirits would take control of it."

"An Erraka-Sak?" breathes Lucian, almost reverently.

Raknur nods in approval.

"An ancient relic of my people, a thing thought lost and confined to the stone of the past. Where our enemies found it I cannot say. But it is this which stopped my clan from conquering these caverns."

The oroc turns to you.

"When it was first unleashed on us, it destroyed many of our warriors - tore their flesh, smashed their crystal. We thought it was invincible."

"Nothing is invincible," says Roland. He leaps down from the thing's motionless frame, landing beside you. "Either you hit it enough, or hit it in the right place. Everything dies in the end."

"You fought magnificently sword-taker."

"Thanks. But people usually call me Roland."

"When I slay you, my ancestors shall welcome you into the crystal kingdom with honor."

---

"It's a long story," says Roland, a faint smile crossing his face.

Raknur is once again at the head of the line, leading you all through caverns and stone passages, across the expansive underground domain which separates his clan's territory from those of their enemies. The way has many twists and turns, but with the oroc guiding you it's simple enough. And you see no sign of any dangers. If there are enemies lurking in the shadows, they exercise discretion rather than hurling themselves to destruction upon your army's weapons.

By mutual consent, you and your closest companions dropped back from the vanguard, to where Roland marches. And from the words he greeted you with, he knows what you're about to say.

"Then just skip to the important bits," you reply.

Medea's harp hisses. Your words must be near blasphemy to a bard, for whom each story is almost a living, breathing creature. But Roland nods.

"Twenty years ago, a noble called Nemler Bloodwyn - kin of that bastard of a mayor in Fallows - held a contest. He sent a load of adventurers and mercenaries into a dungeon, in search of a prize. I was one of them. And so was our new oroc friend."

He taps the sword at his left side, the one which fills his right hand in battle.

"This was the prize."

"Since you're carrying it," says Asea, "I take it that you won."

"Yes."

"What did Raknur mean," you ask, "when he said you tricked him?"

"I fooled him, and got him to walk right out of the dungeon."

"And he still wants to kill you?" says Marcus. "After all this time?"

"Orocs take oaths and honor seriously," Roland replies, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "Still, it does seem petty. It's a good sword, but life goes on. Well, until we end up dueling..."

Your companions lapse into silence. You'll have to speak with Raknur, and find out why he's so adamant about fighting Roland. There has to be something you can do...

You slam against the cavern wall, the breath knocked from your body. It was but a glancing blow, and yet it felt as if a mountain fell on you. To hell with this! Why are you always the one who has to bring down the big monsters?